To:
Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company

Tell Radio Disney to Stop Promoting Oil and Gas Extraction to Kids

After hearing from more than 100,000 parents and concerned citizens like you, Radio Disney has pulled out of "Rocking in Ohio," which promoted fossil fuels to kids in school in a song and game filled roadshow.

Immediately halt your road show promoting oil and gas extraction and pipelines to kids, and sever your partnership with the Ohio Oil and Gas Association. Radio Disney should not--under the guise of teaching kids "science"--promote dirty energy that that gives kids asthma, pollutes our air and water, and fuels climate change.

Why is this important?

As a mom of two young boys, I am disturbed that Radio Disney is promoting oil and gas extraction and pipelines to kids in a music-filled show called "Rocking in Ohio."(1) Funded through a partnership with the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, the road show is being presented everywhere from schools to county fairs under the guise of teaching kids "science." Worse yet, this initiative may be expanded in 2014.

A family brand like Disney should not be peddling fossil fuels to kids at a time when the childhood asthma rate is soaring, and climate impacts--from super storms to droughts--are harming communities across the country.

In the road show, popular Radio Disney DJ’s lead kids in interactive presentations where--with pop music blaring in the background--they play games, build pretend pipelines out of colorful plastic, and even receive prizes with Disney movie and Radio Disney branding. Rhonda Reda, a representative of the educational arm of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said of the road show, “It allows science to be fun. Who better to help than Radio Disney?”(2)

It is easy to understand why the fossil fuel industry would want to partner with Radio Disney. Broadcast in more than 35 markets around the country and online, the radio network asserts that it is the “unrivaled broadcast radio network for kids and families.”(3) Disney’s target audience, from its radio programming to its movie franchise to its theme parks and stores, are children. If Disney is going to engage its listeners and viewers about energy, it should be championing energy that is "kid safe and climate safe"--not carbon polluting fossil fuels that put children at risk.

Radio Disney must immediately stop promoting oil and gas extraction to kids through its "Rocking in Ohio" road show, and sever its partnership with the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.